NBA considers rule changes to make games more exciting

WASHINGTON -- A 20-second shot clock, the elimination of illegal defense rules and other radical adjustments were among the proposed rules changes discussed Friday by the NBA's competition committee.

''We don't have a plan right now, but we're going to continue to attack the issue,'' NBA vice president of operations Stu Jackson said. ''What we don't want to do is something knee-jerk and be in a situation where we make changes that would be detrimental to the game.''

Admitting that many offenses have become too dependent on isolation plays, Jackson said the league is determined to fix the problem.

No recommendations were issued, although the committee plans to meet again in June. Any rules changes would have to be approved by the league's Board of Governors.

''We'll continue to look at it and keep in contact with our teams in an effort to gain some consensus as to where we need to go,'' Jackson said.

Scoring is down almost 3 1/2 points per game from last season, with teams averaging only 94.1 points per game. The falloff has come despite a minuscule drop in leaguewide field goal and free throw percentages.

Part of the problem is the trend of gearing offenses toward 2-on-2 or 1-on-1 isolation plays in which a majority of a team's players stand idle on the weak side to draw their defenders away from the ball.

One solution would be to simply eliminate illegal defense rules, thereby eliminating the incentive for teams to run dulled-down offenses.

Other proposals are designed to encourage teams to run more fast breaks.

''Get rid of the illegal defense rules because they're not working anyway,'' said Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz, who was not part of the competition committee meeting. ''I'm not really sure what it would do, but if nothing else, it'll make you get out and run the floor a lot harder.

''It would hurt a little bit, but I don't think it would totally kill the game. People want to get the old game back.''

In general, scoring has been on the decline for more than a decade and bottomed out in the lockout-shortened 1999 season when teams averaged only 91.6 points per game.

Rules changes were instituted after that season to cut down on hand-checking and contact away from the ball, but the unintended effect has been to encourage non-entertaining isolation plays because they have become so easy to run.

Those plays tend to eat much of the shot clock, and field goal attempts have dropped from 82.1 per game last season to 80.1 this season.

Malone said the league should form a panel of former players who played in the league 10 or 20 years ago to suggest ways to make the game more free-flowing and pleasing to the eye.

''They talk about what all those guys did for the game, but they changed all the rules to cater to the younger generation,'' Malone said.

''Basketball is basketball, and there was nothing wrong with it back then, was there? Ratings were up, arenas were full and that's what people wanted to see. Now, ratings are down, arenas aren't full and basketball doesn't seem to be the same.''

Shortening the shot clock from 24 seconds to 20 seconds would give teams more possessions per game but might also have the effect of forcing too many low percentage shots.

Moving the 3-point line closer to the basket has already been tried, although moving it farther away hasn't.

Those suggestions -- and even some radical changes like awarding an additional point as a reward for scoring early in the shot clock -- were all up for discussion as the committee met for nearly five hours.

''We looked at many different aspects of the game, how our games are called, the 3-point line, illegal defenses and a number of different areas to see how our teams feel,'' Jackson said. ''Isolation basketball is a large concern.''

While acknowledging that teams currently play quasi-zone defenses, All-Stars Gary Payton and Jason Kidd disagreed with Malone and said outright zones don't belong in the NBA, where man-to-man coverage has always been the norm.

''These guys are so talented, guys would kill a zone. You could get in the seams, and teams would be daring your best shooter to find a gap and knock it down,'' Kidd said.